The hottest man in golf stayed that way Friday at the 99th PGA Championship.
Hideki Matsuyama cracked the Quail Hollow Code with a dazzling seven-under par 64 that rocketed him into a share of the 36-hole lead.
He made it look easy.
He made it look easy on a course where the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth have been unable to break par in either of their first two rounds.
Rory is two-over, 10 behind Hideki.
Spieth is three-over, 11 back of the young star from Japan.
Safe to say it’s not happening for either one of those pre-tournament favorites.
Matsuyama just kept on doing what he did last week in a dominant performance at Firestone. Hideki brought that up after his performance. “I’m riding the momentum from the round I had on Sunday (Firestone) and again, hopefully I can keep that going for 36 more holes.”
How about a seven-birdie, bogey-free round at this difficult Quail Hollow redesign?
No one’s done that until Friday.
Sure, Kevin Kisner’s in there at eight-under with Matsuyama, but do you really want the No. 3 player in the world staring at you when his game is firing on all cylinders?
Good luck Kiz.
If that’s not enough, Jason Day has finally come out of hiding. Day, after a first-round 70, shot 66 on Friday to move within two shots of the leaders.
Matsuyama, like many of the afternoon players, was hustling to finish his round before sundown.
Not everyone finished and they’ll crank things up again at 7 a.m. Saturday morning.
Chris Stroud could make a move on the co-leaders. He’s five-under with five holes to play when he returns to finish his second round.
